Presented with the first ever Sheldon and Dr. Miriam Adelson “Defender of Israel” award, Mr. Beck was introduced by Mr. Adelson, a gaming industry mogul and a long time devotee of Israel. “In his introductory remarks Mr. Adelson described Mr. Beck as a ”very special man. We knew he was a giant even before we met him. I’d never known a Christian Zionist like Glenn Beck. He tells the truth about the Arab war against Israel.”

Adelson, also the publisher of Israel Hayom (now Israel’s largest daily newspaper), added there is “no greater supporter of Israel in the media today” than Beck. When Palestinians murdered five members of the Fogel family in last March’s Itamar massacre, Beck dedicated an entire show on Fox News to the tragedy and “displayed the pictures that almost every other television network ignored”; Palestinians celebrating the event by handing out candles in the streets, Adelson said.

Noted for his exceptional devotion to Israel and the Jewish people as evidenced in his August 2011 “Restoring Courage” rally in Jerusalem near the Temple Mount and his forthright positions on his FOX television program, Mr. Beck declared that he has placed his “chips on the table” by saying, “I wear it as a badge of pride to be a Zionist. The Jewish people and the land of Israel has a right to exist and I am not ashamed to speak the truth.” Extending plaudits to his hosts and the rich and vibrant legacy of the ZOA as a foremost advocate for a greater Israel, Mr. Beck’s address was frequently punctuated by thunderous applause. Warning of ominous times ahead, he said, “the world is on the eve of profound and dramatic change and we have an 18-month window the change the world.”

Referencing a panoply of issues such as the geo-political realities of the Arab Spring, the burgeoning Iranian nuclear threat, the nascent Occupy Wall Street movement, the danger of George Soros funded organizations, the incessant animus towards Israel emanating from the Obama administration and the prevalent denial of the Holocaust, Mr. Beck issued a clarion call for unity amongst Christians, Jews and all good people by saying, “We must lock arms and stand as sentinels for if we fail to do so things could get worse. I come to you as a brother and not as a Christian. The world does not hate you, but the enemies of G-d hate you. You, the Jewish people never gave up on G-d. You have been loyal and you never embraced the G-d of the stranger and for that Israel has been promised by G-d to the Jews.”

In a voice reverberating with palpable emotion and zeal, Mr. Beck ruefully observed that “what is happening in the world is grotesque”, he declared, “When Ahmadinejad of Iran says the Jews will burn in the fiery hell of Islam, he means it. We must say ‘Never Again’ and we must mean it. Words are meaningless. It is a time for action and only through the mighty Hand of the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will we be saved.”

Choked up with tears, Mr. Beck vividly recalled his trip to Auschwitz this past summer and what it meant to him. “I demand to be counted so others will not be numbered. We must tell the truth and we must never forget. We must never repeat the mistakes of the past. Evil will grow again and this evil plant grows in darkness and we must shed a bright light upon it.”

Exhorting his audience to “rely on eternal truths”, he chided the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators as being “just like the fascists that they say they’re against. It is like a formulaic stage play replete with hypocrisy.” He added that the struggles we face for our existential survival are “personal” and that “we must go out as individuals and make a difference.” Borrowing words from Abraham Lincoln, he warned against becoming imbued with vengeance and bellicosity when he said that our mantra should be, “With malice towards none and charity for all” and said that “as the world plunges into darkness, we must be a beacon of light.”

To that end, Mr. Beck made an oblique reference to an endeavor that he is undertaking on December 8th and while what he was eluding to remains nebulous at this juncture he had tongues wagging at the conclusion of his address as audience members engaged in speculation. “Either he is announcing his candidacy for public office or he is planning to convert to Judaism”, said a ZOA member who chose to remain anonymous.

Also delivering a powerful and heartfelt address was Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R) who is seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2012. Telling her audience that her inextricable ties to Israel and the Jewish people originate in her personal religiuos beliefs she saiid, “It all began in the Book of Genesis which says that ‘Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed and whoever curses Israel will be cursed’ and I stand behind these Divine words.”

Underscoring the pernicious threat of a nuclear armed Iran, Ms. Bachmann said that “all options should be on the table” and did not rule out military force. We must never allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons and we cannot outsource our national secuirty to the UN.” Taking President Obama to task for his perceived laxity when dealing with the rogue state, she said that he has “given Iran the luxury of time to develop nuclear weapons” and called on the President “to accelerate covert operations and cyber operations in Iran and order the CIA Director to take all means necessary to stop Iran from getting the bomb before it is too late.”

Heaping substantive criticism on President Obama for his less than stellar track record as it pertains to Israel, Rep. Bachmann said, “The president supports the Occupy Wall Street protestors but fails to stand with Israel and that is not an acceptable way of treating our loyal ally. Calling for an undivided Jerusalem recognized by the United States as Israel’s official capital she exclaimed, “On my first day in office I will issue an order to immediately move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.” Ms. Bachmann then brought the crowd to its feet concerning Jerusalem’s status when she said, “Not one acre, not one foot, not one inch of Jerusalem will ever be relinquished.”

Adding her voice to Ms. Bachmann’s was Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) of Florida who was the recipient of the ZOA’s much heralded Cherna and Dr. Irving Moskowitz Award. Introduced by ZOA Board Member Harvey Friedman, he described Ros-Lehtinen as a “national treasure to every Jew in the U.S.” and spoke of her legislative efforts opposing US funding of both Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Lauded for the tireless work that she’s done to protect Israel’s interests as Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American, said, “Let us make no mistake about it. Ahmadinejad has clearly stated that his intentions are to destroy both Israel and America; the little Satan and the big Satan and we must take this very seriously.”

ZOA National Chairman of the Board, Dr. Michael Goldblatt delivered the presentation to Maccabee Award recipients Judy and Jerome Taylor, noting that they had been “long-time pro-Israel activists” who had worked side by side for years on behalf of Israel. He also noted that Judy Taylor’s father had been involved in prosecuting Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg war crime trials, so that working “to protect Jews was in her genes.”

The recipients of the 2011 Louis D. Brandeis Award were William K. Langfan and his son Mark Langfan, a New York attorney. Introducing the Langfans was Professor Ephraim Inbar, the director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel.

Speaking about the seminal topographic map that he created, security analyst Mark Langfan took the audience on a spellbinding tour of the perils that Israel would find herself in if Judea and Samaria were relinquished to Arab hands. Pointing to the fact that Israel’s coastal region holds 70 percent of the Jewish population and 80 percent of its industrial base, such a scenario, he said, would inevitably lead to a massive barrage of Katyusha rockets carrying chemical warheads on major population centers including Tel Aviv, Netanya and Hadera.

“Without Israel as the bulwark against the waxing Islamic tsunami to the East”, Langfan said, :there will be a direct Islamic military threat to the very doorstep of Europe. Without Israel, how many trillions–trillions–of dollars will the US have to spend to defend Greece, and NATO from such “clear and present” danger to Western civilization? Or, as the Visa commercial would say of Israel’s present-day strategic value to the US: Priceless.”

Serving as dinner co-chairmen were James A. Tisch, the former Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and New York Jewish Federation, and CEO of Loews Corporation and Martin Gross, President of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Member of the Board of Trustees of Brandeis University. Among the prominent guests attending the dinner were Representatives Ann Marie Buerkle and Robert Turner from New York, Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois, Richard Stone, Chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and terrorism expert, Steve Emerson.

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Fern Sidman holds a B.A, in political science from Brooklyn College. She was the educational coordinator for the Betar Youth Movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was national director of the Jewish Defense League from 1983-1985. She was a researcher for several books written by Rabbi Meir Kahane, ZTK”L. She was the managing editor of the publication entitled, The Voice of Judea, and is a regular contributor to its web site. She is currently a writer and journalist living in New York City. Her articles have appeared in The Jewish Press, The Jewish Advocate, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, and numerous Jewish and general web sites including, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Pipes and Michael Freund.
We are delighted to have Ms. Sidman as a regular contributor to the Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog.

11.24.11

Our Father in Heaven,
We give thanks for the pleasure
Of gathering together for this occasion.
We give thanks for this food
Prepared by loving hands.
We give thanks for life,
The freedom to enjoy it all
And all other blessings.
As we partake of this food,
We pray for health and strength
To carry on and try to live as You would have us.
This we ask in the name of Christ,
Our Heavenly Father.

–Harry Jewell

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone. Praise the Lord with Thanksgiving for all that He has done for us!!

11.18.11

Since Friday morning, November 11th, Jews around the world and especially in the Orthodox enclaves of New York have been recoiling in horror over the overtly anti-Semitic vandalisms that took place in the early morning hours near Ocean Parkway and Avenue I in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. Three vehicles were torched and a gruesome array of hideous epithets as well as the perfunctory swastikas and KKK emblem were indiscriminately scrawled on cars and benches. As community outrage reached a fever pitch, it was duly noted that this attack was clearly planned to coincide with the 73rd anniversary of Kristallnacht, (the night of broken glass), when on November 9-10 1938, as a pogrom of mammoth proportions erupted in Hitler’s Europe, almost 200 synagogues were destroyed, over 8,000 Jewish shops were sacked and looted, and tens of thousands of Jews were deported to concentration camps.

There is no doubt that we are living in turbulent times. One need only turn on the TV, computer or read any newspaper to find that we are witnessing an alarming escalation of blatant Jew hatred. What is most frightening is the fact that while the putrid stench of such hatred wafts through the air, a tacit approval of sorts looms large in respectable circles who refuse to condemn it. One gets the eerily visceral feeling that this may indeed be a replication of Europe 1938. On the local scene, anti-Semitism has invaded the discussion of corporate avarice and malfeasance that is being promulgated by the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Sound familiar? Their mantra goes something like this: It is the Jew who controls the banks, the international monetary fund; it is the Jew who is at the vanguard of the insidious cabal to steal the wealth of the world, while the unemployment rates spike and the poor grow poorer. It is time to resurrect the perennial scapegoat and it is always the Jew.

Let us make no mistake about it. While the haters charge that they are merely anti-Zionist, we know that it is a clever subterfuge for classical anti-Semitism. Case in point: Most recently,in Boston, the Occupy movement staged a takeover of the Israeli consulate, where demonstrators spewed forth the hackneyed and utterly baseless claims that the Israelis have assumed the role of Nazis in their purported “oppression” of the Palestinians.

Anyone who has eyes to see and ears that not only hear but also listen will know that these are not sporadic happenings but that Jew hatred is a permanent part of and endemic to our society; a recurrent cancer that at times goes into remission but inevitably reappears in ever more toxic manifestations. Fatal attacks on Jews and their communities throughout Europe and South America have been taking place for decades while the abject silence of the world is beyond deafening.

Each day we are inundated with bloody images of the rise of radical Islam, not only in the Middle East, not only in the maelstrom of the Arab spring, but in the heartland of Western civilization. It is an ideology that is driven not by a prototypical miscreant like Adolf Hitler but by a political credo that is couched in religious doctrine. It is a burgeoning and pernicious movement that calls for the eradication of Israel and of course, the death of the Jew, the primary infidel of all infidels.

It is a culture of death where one nary witnesses the respect for the sanctity of life and yet the world remains taciturn at best and indifferent at worst. An Orwellian flavor has emerged amongst civilized intellectuals in the Western academy who wouldn’t dare express revulsion over egregious acts of terror in the fear of being labeled “politically incorrect”, in the fear of appearing pro-Colonialist or pro-Imperialist. By dint of sheer repetition of their propaganda, the Islamists and the cadre of Jew haters who support them have convinced us that the aggressor is the victim, that good is bad and right is wrong.

It is also no coincidence that this week we also commemorate the 21st anniversary of the assasination of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who, in his relatively short lifetime embodied the lone voice in the wilderness when he spoke so eloquently and presciently about the rise in anti-Semitism and the nebulous future of the Jew in exile. He was a man who called for Jews to re-connect with their G-d, their heritage and to cloak themselves in Jewish pride; to fear no man but only to fear G-d; to rise up from the ash barrels of Auschwitz and to re-create the Jew of yesteryear; the Jew of the bible who knew who their implacable foes were and who never hastened to challenge them.

During this most trying week, we would do well to take heed of Rabbi Kahane’s last words on the evening of November 5, 1990 when he summed things up by saying, “It’s not an accident that so few German Jews survived the camps. The Polish Jew did better. Why? Because the Polish Jew wasn’t surprised. It didn’t shock him that gentiles could behave like this. It didn’t surprise him, so he wasn’t shattered inside, he wasn’t broken. But the German Jew was psychologically shattered. How could this be? I’m a German. I’m a German. How could it be? How can you do this to me? The Pole knew he was a Jew. The German was broken because his whole illusion was shattered. And that’s how the American Jew lives. “I’m an American”. It’s the gentile who will teach you so quickly that you’re a Jew. It’s not just in the bars, in the working class bars the anti-Semitism that you see. When you see the news media and their attitude towards Israel; it’s not anti-Israel – it is anti-Semitism.”

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Fern Sidman holds a B.A, in political science from Brooklyn College. She was the educational coordinator for the Betar Youth Movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was national director of the Jewish Defense League from 1983-1985. She was a researcher for several books written by Rabbi Meir Kahane, ZTK”L. She was the managing editor of the publication entitled, The Voice of Judea, and is a regular contributor to its web site. She is currently a writer and journalist living in New York City. Her articles have appeared in The Jewish Press, The Jewish Advocate, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, and numerous Jewish and general web sites including, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Pipes and Michael Freund.
We are delighted to have Ms. Sidman as a regular contributor to the Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog.

11.15.11

Mark Langfan, the American-Israel Security 3D-Map topographer, and this year’s co-recipient of the Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award at the upcoming Zionist Organization of America dinner along with his father William, has offered concrete evidence which conclusively debunks the litany of falsehoods and distortions found in the book “Israel Lobby” written by Professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer. The book, originally published in 2006 asserts that “Israel is no longer a vital military strategic ally of the United States.”

Using basic and clear multi-colored graphic maps of the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean, Langfan has presented his findings to members of the US Congress and Senate. If Israel were to be destroyed, he says, the Middle East would be rapidly engulfed by an Islamist Caliphatic “tsunami” which could conceivably immobilize Saudi Arabia, Cyprus and Greece; resulting in an exponential spike in oil prices to $300 a barrel. http://www.marklangfan.com/westerntheater2.html http://www.marklangfan.com/easterntheater1.html

After conducting assiduous research, Langfan sent an e-mail communication to Professor Walt and the entire Harvard Strategic Institute faculty in May of 2011 which contained the graphics of the region. According to the text of the e-mail which was released to the media by Langfan, he said that Professor Walt ” has unknowingly, aided and abetted America’s most implacable and lethal strategic enemies to the irreparable detriment of the United States by espousing his specious theory.” Langfan also called on Professor Walt “to publicly retract his bogus theory immediately before it does even more harm to the national security of the United States.”

Stating that his graphics prove that “Walt and Mearsheimer are both modern-day Lindberghs”, Langfan compares him to one who places Americans security interests at risk. Charles Lindbergh was the American aviator hero who aggressively lobbied Americans on behalf of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and against Great Britain before Germany declared war against the United States in World War II.

On Sunday evening, November 20th, Langfan and his father William will be honored for their “tireless” efforts on Israel’s behalf at the ZOA Gala in New York. .

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Fern Sidman holds a B.A, in political science from Brooklyn College. She was the educational coordinator for the Betar Youth Movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was national director of the Jewish Defense League from 1983-1985. She was a researcher for several books written by Rabbi Meir Kahane, ZTK”L. She was the managing editor of the publication entitled, The Voice of Judea, and is a regular contributor to its web site. She is currently a writer and journalist living in New York City. Her articles have appeared in The Jewish Press, The Jewish Advocate, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, and numerous Jewish and general web sites including, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Pipes and Michael Freund.
We are delighted to have Ms. Sidman as a regular contributor to the Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog.

11.14.11

In the early morning hours of Friday November 11th, vandals set fire to several parked cars and scrawled anti-Semitic graffiti on nearby benches in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Midwood in Brooklyn in what the police said was a hate crime.

The arson took place along Ocean Parkway between Avenue I and Avenue J in what is commonly referred to as the Flatbush section, where three cars; a BMW, a Lexus and a Jaguar, were set ablaze. In addition, the epithet “KKK” was scrawled on the side of a red van, the police said, and swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs could be found on benches.

“The violence – I’m calling it violence when you blow up three cars – adds a sickening dimension to this type of anti-Semitism,” said Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who lives two blocks away and represents the 48th assembly district. He said he regularly walked past the benches with his 90-year-old mother to Sabbath services. “We walk down Ocean Parkway every single week,” Mr. Hikind said. “All I could think about was my mother sitting on a bench with a swastika. She survived Auschwitz.” Mr. Hikind said that this area of Brooklyn, including Midwood and Borough Park, contains one of the largest concentrations of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel.

The Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force is involved in the investigation and Mr. Hikind said the police promised to increase their presence in the neighborhood. “The fact that this most recent attack came on the heels of the 73rd anniversary of Kristallnacht may or may not be a coincidence,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in a statement in response the episode in Brooklyn. “Either way, this kind of hateful act has no place in the freest city in the freest country in the world.”

“Somebody had to have seen something,” remarked Hikind. “Even the tiniest detail that may seem irrelevant could prove to be a vital piece of information to the investigation. It is simply impossible that three cars were set on fire in the middle of a residential neighborhood and nobody saw anything. To the cowards who did this, who are responsible for this vicious and depraved anti-Semitic act, I say, ‘we will hunt you down and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law for this hate crime.’”

Since Friday, the reward for credible information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for this heinous crime has increased by $25,000. The monies were put together by both Mr. David Ben-Horeen, publisher of The Jewish Voice, as well as other leaders of the community, and $1000 by NYC council member David Greenfield. The reward now stands at $30,000.

As of Sunday afternoon Police police had made no arrests The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating. Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said dozens of empty beer bottles were found at the scene. He said they would be tested for fingerprints and DNA samples. Police in the 66th Precinct bolstered patrols in the neighborhood; especially the scene of the attack.

Separately, the police said Friday that they had arrested a man accused of scrawling swastikas in five incidents last week in Jackson Heights, Queens. The man, Franco Rodriguez, 40, spray painted the symbols on the doors of several local libraries and a Catholic church, the police said.

On Sunday, November 13th, about 100 Midwood residents along with elected officials staged a peaceful protest march on Ocean Parkway past the four public benches from which the 16 swastikas had been removed after the pre-dawn attack Friday. Carrying an Israeli flag, the marchers were led by Mr. Hikind, State Senator Eric Adams, Rabbi Chaim Gruber, New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel and other community leaders. “There was a time when vandals used magic markers to express hate; now they’re using gasoline,” Adams said.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer condemned the vandalism during an unrelated event on Sunday. “It’s disgraceful and they should throw the book at the people who did it,” Schumer said. “Sometimes vandals think they’re pranks, sometimes they’re more malicious than that. Either way they cause great harm.”

Protesters noted the attack occurred one day after the 73rd anniversary of Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany on Nov. 9-10, 1938, when synagogues were set on fire and the windows of Jewish-owned shops were broken. Sunday’s march also included about 25 people from the Occupy Wall Street movement in Manhattan, which put out a statement condemning the vandalism. The mix of people who showed up for the march “shows that we stand together against hatred. And it makes residents here feel better,” Hikind said.

The NYPD has established special hotlines for tips. Anyone with information concerning Friday’s incident is urged to call 718-265-7327 or 718-265-7387. All calls will be kept confidential.

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Fern Sidman holds a B.A, in political science from Brooklyn College. She was the educational coordinator for the Betar Youth Movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was national director of the Jewish Defense League from 1983-1985. She was a researcher for several books written by Rabbi Meir Kahane, ZTK”L. She was the managing editor of the publication entitled, The Voice of Judea, and is a regular contributor to its web site. She is currently a writer and journalist living in New York City. Her articles have appeared in The Jewish Press, The Jewish Advocate, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, and numerous Jewish and general web sites including, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Pipes and Michael Freund.
We are delighted to have Ms. Sidman as a regular contributor to the Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog.

We’ve had a remarkable year for the occurrence of natural disasters. It is amazing how many records were set in just the past eleven months. If the world lasts another decade, any flood, tornado, or earthquake event in the U.S. will have to use the year 2011 to judge its historic significance.

The most striking headlines that I keep seeing are the ones that read “hundred-year” flood, tornado, or earthquake. I’ve even seen some events given the title “five-hundred-year.” If the cycle is one hundred or five hundred years, it makes me wonder why they keep happening every year. I remember the great flood of 1993 was given the title of “one hundred-year flood.” Now, eighteen years later, we have another flood that is eight decades too early.

Last week, Oklahoma was struck by a large earthquake. The 5.6 trembler was centered near the town of Sparks, and it sent out shockwaves that were felt as far away as Wisconsin. This was the most powerful quake in the state’s history. The previous record was a 5.5 magnitude earthquake that struck near the town of El Reno in 1952.

Oklahoma is not known as a geologically active state. It typically only had about fifty earthquakes a year until 2009. In the past three years, the number of quakes has dramatically spiked, with 1,047 quakes shaking the state last year. The increase has prompted researchers to install seismographs in the area.

The breaking of records often causes the media to highlight other recent records. An ABC News report stunned me as the reporter listed four records that have occurred since February in Oklahoma. After doing some research, I found two more records. Here is the list:

Most snow – In February, a snowstorm dumped 11.8 inches on Oklahoma City and 13.2 inches in Tulsa, shattering the all-time daily snowfall records for February in both cities.

Coldest temperature – The Oklahoma Mesonet weather station at Nowata reached -31° F on February 10. The low set a record for the whole state.

Tornadoes – April had more tornadoes than in any previous year. This is a remarkable record for a state that is in the bull’s eye of tornado alley.

Highest wind – In May, Doppler radar detected the highest wind speeds ever recorded in Oklahoma. An EF5 tornado was found to have winds of 318 miles per hour.

Hailstones – On May 23, a supercell thunderstorm in Kiowa County produced a record hailstone that measured six inches in diameter.

Record heat – Oklahoma City had the hottest average temperature summer on record (June thru August) – 87.5 (2011). The previous record was 85.9° set in 1934.

Drought – Year-to-date, Oklahoma has had its driest year since 1921.

Terry and I have joked with some our friends who live in Oklahoma. I’ve requested a notice if sulfur and brimstone start falling from the sky. Some folks have started using the term “Oklageddon.” All kidding aside, I don’t think the people of the Sooner State have done anything special to invoke God’s wrath. After all, the weather has been perfect out in San Francisco. You would think the Lord would cause the so-called gay capital of America to slide into the ocean before He would go after a Bible-belt state like Oklahoma.

There may actually be a divine connection to all the natural disasters taking place in Oklahoma. Rather than being a form of judgment, the events of this year may be part of God’s end-time warning plan. Jesus said the sign of the Tribulation hour’s nearness would be an increase in calamities. He said these birth pangs would lead right up to the very end.

What is remarkable is that few people are asking the question, “What is going on in Oklahoma and other parts of the world?” Earlier this year, Japan was hit by the largest earthquake in recorded history. Here in Arkansas, we had the most powerful earthquake in thirty-six years. In August, a 5.8 quake rocked the East Coast of America. Forget about prophecy; I don’t even see people looking for natural reasons to explain why we are having so many quakes.

Jesus warned that there would a profound state of apathy about end-time signs right ahead of His return. The profound lack of attention to these warning events would seem to indicate that we are at the saturation point of apathy, and that the Rapture must be very near.

“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44).

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness” (2 Peter 3:10-11).

11.10.11

Just hours before the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna released their much awaited report confirming Iran’s “development of a nuclear explosive device”, this very topic was vigorously addressed at a forum at the 92nd Street Y on Manhattan’s upper east side. Excerpts from the powerful 2011 documentary, “Iranium” (which documents the genesis of Iran’s nuclear threat, beginning with the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the ideology espoused by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini until today) was screened before the 200 audience members. Simulcast to a variety of venues around the country, the distinguished panel members had the opportunity of answering questions from audience members who were not present at the location.

Moderated by the film’s director, Alex Traiman, (who was also involved in the production of other films documenting the rise of radical Islam and those who carry terrorist attacks in the name of Allah such as “Obsession” and “The Third Jihad”) the panel consisted of Nazie Eftekhari, a prominent Iranian-American activist and the founder and CEO of The Araz Group, a family of companies that includes HealthEZ and America’s PPO. Having grown up in Iran, Ms. Eftekhari’s prodigious efforts have been focused on spotlighting the excessive human rights abuses against Iranian citizens that take place every day in her native country along with initiating a campaign of global support for the protection of the civil rights of Iranian dissidents.

Joining Ms. Eftekhari on the panel was former Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle who served in this post during the Reagan administration. Mr. Perle is a member of several think-tanks including the Hudson Institute, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Center for Security Policy. He is also a resident fellow of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

Opening with images from “Iranium” in which media personalities report on the immense amount of pressure Iranian embassies throughout the US and Canada placed on those theaters screening the film and their demands that presentations be canceled, the panelists offered a historical overview of the progenitors of the Islamic revolution and political metamorphoses that have gripped Iran over the last century. “When Khomeini came to power in 1979, he was never elevated to Ayatollah, despite common misconceptions”, said Ms. Eftekhari. She added that the previous Ayatollah and the Shah of Iran severed ties in 1962 and it was then that Iranian women were accorded the right to vote. “The Shah’s father was a secular ruler who did not force women to cover their hair and if the various mullahs disagreed with his ruling they would be horsewhipped.”

Condemning then president Jimmy Carter for welcoming Khomeini and helping in the Shah’s ouster, Ms. Eftekhari said she saw a glaring resemblance between the demonstrations leading to the Arab spring and the Iranian revolution of 1979. “As a liberal Democrat; as a supporter of Hillary Clinton and a fan of Barack Obama, I was terribly upset and extremely disappointed to know that the leaders of my country did not stand up and speak out when the people of Iran exercised their rights of free speech and dissent in June of 2009, following the national elections. Hillary Clinton has said that the leadership of those dissidents demonstrating in the streets of Teheran did not want help from the USA and I simply don’t believe that.”

“This is the time for regime change”, said Mr. Perle as he addressed options that can feasibly be implemented when confronting the Iranian nuclear issue. Taking a flinty posture, he said that, “endless, feckless negotiations haven proven a failure with Iran.” Recalling policy meetings he had with the late President Ronald Reagan, Mr. Perle said, “After exploring various strategies vis-a-vis the Soviet Union, Regan decided to bring down the Soviet Union and he was successful, and today, the US policy as it pertains to Iran should be the same.”

Envisioning a military invasion of Iran by the US, Mr. Perle suggested “surgical strikes” on facilities and installations that would avoid casualities and the death of large numbers of people. “Military containment is not a viable strategy. It essentially translates into an acceptance of Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Destroying critical elements of their program would be the most efficient modality”, he said.

Citing the abysmal failure of the sanctions imposed on Iran by the UN, Mr. Perle did acknowledge that the people of Iran are feeling the brunt and that “the government in Iran is miserably unpopular”. As a country that produces millions of barrels of oil a day for foreign consumption, Mr. Perle suggested that an international ban on refined petroleum would create a situation in which Iran would grind to a halt.

As to the role of Israel in the increasing tense standoff with Iran, Ms. Eftekhari extended plaudits to the Jewish people and Israel and exhorted the Jewish state not to fire the first salvo in what could materialize as a major Middle East conflagration. “When I was studying in college in Iran, I warmly remember Israeli students studying there and the close friendships we developed. In Iran, Muslims and Jews at one time lived in peace and harmony. I remember the groups of Russian Jewish children that were smuggled out of the former Soviet Union and to Teheran on their way to Israel. We are like cousins in so many ways,” said Eftekhari. Referring to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as “a Holocausr denying midget”, she added that the past 33 years have been an anomoly in the longstanding and fruitful reliationship between the people of Iran and the Jews.

Exhorting Israel to refrain from initiating a military assault on Iran, Ms. Eftekhari suggested that they support a strike of Iranian oil workers for six weeks as a means of confrontation. “We must understand the impact of propaganda being spewed forth by the Iranian regime. There are 77 million Iranians and they would hate Israel if an attack was launched. The regime in Iran couldn’t care less if they lost 100,000 of their own citizens as long as it produced hatred for Israel among the population.” She also expressed her approval of Israeli government kidnappings of Iranian nuclear scientists and said that their “extrication” was “a good thing” until they can go back to Iran to actually work on nuclear medicine.

“If Israel attacks Iran, it will be because we allowed the regime to violate the human rights of its people. Iran has declared that 1.5 millon people there who express discontent with the government are criminals. Instead of bellyaching about whether Israel is going to attack Iran or not, let’s do something about it. Iranians are killing Americans as we speak in the Middle East through their terror proxies and we’ve done nothing to restrain them.” she added.

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Fern Sidman holds a B.A, in political science from Brooklyn College. She was the educational coordinator for the Betar Youth Movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was national director of the Jewish Defense League from 1983-1985. She was a researcher for several books written by Rabbi Meir Kahane, ZTK”L. She was the managing editor of the publication entitled, The Voice of Judea, and is a regular contributor to its web site. She is currently a writer and journalist living in New York City. Her articles have appeared in The Jewish Press, The Jewish Advocate, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, and numerous Jewish and general web sites including, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Pipes and Michael Freund.
We are delighted to have Ms. Sidman as a regular contributor to the Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog.

11.04.11

There is no such thing as good news in the Middle East. Any positive move will eventually be followed by a negative consequence. In last week’s Nearing Midnight Update, I pointed out the demise of Libyan dictator of Moammar Gadhafi. Some people mistook my comments about his death as being a beneficial sign for Libya. If you have been following my commentary for the past few years, you would know that I see no hope of the Muslim world ever becoming the cradle of democracy.

The Arab Spring uprising had Western leaders and the liberal media giddy for several months. They all cheered as one dictator after another was forced from power. Now that the political process is starting to show that radical Islamists have the upper hand in the region, optimism is starting to fade.

The revolt started in Tunisia, so it’s fitting that it would be the first to have free elections. Last week, an Islamic religious party won the lion’s share of seats in the Tunisian parliament. The Ennahda party received 41 percent of the vote, giving it 90 seats in the 217-seat assembly. Ennahda says it wants the Koran to be the guideline of Tunisia’s legislation.

In Libya, Islamists are already in key positions of control. While NATO was bombing from the air, militants where pouring into the country. Right now, an ex-terrorist once jailed by the CIA is running the country’s military. Several political leaders are speaking openly of enacting Islamic law in Libya .

In Egypt, organizers are getting ready for next month’s elections. The Muslim Brotherhood is the favorite to win the largest number of seats. A Muslim Brotherhood victory would be a huge disaster for Israel. Officials with the group have issued increasingly hostile rhetoric toward the Jewish state. In an August radio interview with Radio Free Europe, Essam el-Erian said Israel had no right to exist as a Jewish state: “Existence of a state for Jews is against all rules of states all over the world.” The Muslim Brotherhood has already said it would push to annul the landmark 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty.

It now appears that Iraq may join the list of failed opportunities for liberty. By the end of the year, all American troops will be out of Iraq. U.S. diplomats had tried to arrange for a contingency to remain in the country. The reason we offered to leave a policing force is that we want to protect our $700 billion investment in Iraq. Having spent all this money and sacrificed 4,000 soldiers, we don’t want to see Iraq become a client state of Iran. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has already become very friendly with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and he has offered words of support for Iran’s key ally, Syria.

The key reason the Arab Spring has gone sour is the inability of our leaders to understand the evil nature of Islam. We spend huge resources to save people from brutal dictators, and they turn around and support a system that is even more enslaving. The leader of Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai, would not be in power if American forces had not kicked out the Taliban, an Islamist militant group that has murdered thousands of the Afghan people. Karzai has repeatedly threatened to quit the political process and join the Taliban if he continues to come under pressure to reform his corrupt government.

I don’t think it’s possible to have a friend in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is regarded to be a dear friend of America, but yet it aids our enemies. Thomas Friedman of the New York Times reports that Saudi donors “still constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide─not to mention the fundamentalist mosques, charities and schools that spawn the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

At some point in the future, we are going to realize that we made a huge mistake in our dealings with the Muslim world. We’ve been bowing to Islam so long that it would take incredibly drastic steps to turn things around. I still can’t believe we let go Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the guy who killed 270 people in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. To shock the Muslims back to reality, we would have to say, “Stop doing that or we’ll nuke Mecca.”

I often wonder what our leaders would do if they know how bad things will get because of their foolish attempts to placate Islam. The Bible warns that Muslim nations will trigger a series of great battles in the Tribulation hour that will kill tens of millions of people. The most spectacular battle involving the Muslim world will be when the Lord pours His wrath on the Gog armies as they attack Israel .

“And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 38:21-23).

Speaking before an overflow audience at the Kingsway Jewish Center in Brooklyn on Tuesday evening November 1st, Helen Freedman, the executive director of Americans For A Safe Israel (AFSI) told those gathered at the Zionism Museum and Education Center that, “the current political climate in Israel demands our active concern and our concrete participation. As the government of Israel acquiesces to world pressure and maintains a timorous posture towards the Arabs, as UNESCO sanitizes the Palestinian Authority, we are witnessing an all out assault against the intrepid settler movement.”

Relating devastating incidents that she personally witnessed while leading the bi-annual AFSI Chizuk mission to Israel, Ms. Freedman said, “Just today, we learned that of the announcement that the Ministry of Education in Israel has decided to cut off funding for the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva near Yitzhar in the Shromrom. That should serve as a clarion call to us all about which direction the government is taking in terms of the future of Jewish life in Judea and Samaria.”

Bemoaning the abject “guilt and fear” that the government of Israel projects to the world, she told her audience of a sweeping movement in Israel that tacitly hands over ownership of all religious sites to the Arabs. “In 1993, following the actions taken by Baruch Goldstein, ZT”L, the government divided the Ma’arat HaMachpela in Hevron and the Arabs received the entire Yitzchak Avinu hall to pray in and the Jewish worshippers were relegated to the court yard”, she ruefully observed.

Adding that Arabs she has spoken to in Israel have boastfully declared possession of every Jewish holy site, she said that the UNESCO decision to grant recognition and admittance of the Palestinians into their organization would further embolden their quest of have complete control of all holy sites including the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. With pain in her voice she queried, “When will our shamefully obsequious behavior in the face of our avowed enemies cease?”

She called upon the assemblage to personally involve themselves in the battle to save the residents of Judea and Samaria from possible expulsion and to “be more than armchair activists”. Exhorting those present to show their support for the settlers by writing and calling their elected officials and joining lobbying efforts in Washington, she declared, “AFSI’s objectives are very clear. Our Chizuk mission to Israel is not exclusively limited to providing moral and material support to our brave brothers and sisters in Judea, Samaria and the Golan, but it is also about realizing that it is incumbent upon every single one of us to stand up and speak out for our G-d given rights to Eretz Yisroel even when the slings and arrows of our detractors are pointed in our direction.”

AFSI’s next Chizuk Mission for Israel is scheduled for November 13th.

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Fern Sidman holds a B.A, in political science from Brooklyn College. She was the educational coordinator for the Betar Youth Movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was national director of the Jewish Defense League from 1983-1985. She was a researcher for several books written by Rabbi Meir Kahane, ZTK”L. She was the managing editor of the publication entitled, The Voice of Judea, and is a regular contributor to its web site. She is currently a writer and journalist living in New York City. Her articles have appeared in The Jewish Press, The Jewish Advocate, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, and numerous Jewish and general web sites including, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Pipes and Michael Freund.
We are delighted to have Ms. Sidman as a regular contributor to the Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog.

11.03.11

Good for this man. Pray that he will have the strength to stand up for what he believes.

A standoff over prayers at a school flagpole is looming between a longtime Baptist preacher and a Florida public school system.

Ron Baker, the pastor of Russell Baptist Church in Green Cove Springs, said he plans to keep on praying, regardless of what happens.

“Did you ever think that in America you’d be in trouble for praying at the flag?” Baker told Fox News. “It’s disturbing.”

Baker was referring to a legal opinion submitted by the Clay County School Board’s attorney and published in Jacksonville.com. The attorney determined that a series of prayers on the grounds of four schools was a violation of the U.S. Constitution. The attorney further declared that the prayers were a clear endorsement of religion and Christianity.

“It is a violation of the United States Constitution for a teacher, school administrator or other school district employee to join in a prayer session during their work time,” wrote J. Bruce Bickner in a story that appeared on Jacksonville.com.

Bickner did not return telephone calls or emails seeking comment.

“I never thought I’d ever see that happen in America,” Pastor Baker told Fox News. “Maybe in North Korea or China or Russia – but not America.”

For quite some time Pastor Baker has been praying at all four of Clay County’s schools. Normally he’s joined by church members, parents, grandparents and students – offering thanks to God around each school flagpole.

But the Baptist preacher said all that changed when an atheist group complained – leading to the ban.

“Who would have thought when you’re praying for the safety of the school, the students and respecting the teachers and faculty – that that would be deemed as wrong and impermissible?” he wondered.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, told Jacksonville.com that their complaints would be satisfied so long as the early morning prayers were halted.

“I’m just so pleased to see that someone else has some legal common sense,” she told the newspaper.

The pastor said he’s contacted the American Center for Law and Justice – and was told that his prayers are indeed – Constitutional.

“I don’t feel I did anything wrong and I don’t feel any need to stop,” he said.

So on Monday morning at 8:15 a.m., Pastor Baker said he will be at the flagpole at Clay Hill Elementary School – in defiance of the school attorney.